Form printing device



Dec. 3, 1968 w. E. SIEVERS FORM PRINTING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 11, 1967 INVENTUR W/LL/AM E'- SIEVERS Dec. 3, 1968 w. E. SIEVERSFORM PRINTING DEVICE Filed Sept 11, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E W W W UnitedStates Patent 3,414,107 FORM PRINTING DEVICE William E. Sievers, MortonGrove, Ill., assignor to Victor Comptometer Corporation, a corporationof Illinois Filed Sept. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 666,804 5 Claims. (Cl.197-133) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The form printing device includes aplurality of individually settable print wheels which are set from akeyboard'by means of slidable actuators and rack bars. The form is acontinuous strip of separable tags, tickets, or labels supplied in rollform and is fed about a rotatable platen. The platen. is made of arubber or rubberlike tube into which are pressed a pair of aluminumextrusion cores. A pair of end plates having hubs are secured by setscrews to the platen shaft which extends through the cores. The endplates are formed with equally spaced inwardly projecting offsets whichengage in notches formed in the platen tube and in notches formed in theedges of the form strip to drive the platen and to feed the form. Theplaten shaft is rotated on every cycle of the device by a pawl andratchet wheel drive a distance sufficient to feed the form a distanceequal to the spacing between notches. A star wheel on the platen shaftand a spring biased detent hold the shaft and platen against inadvertentrotation. A thumb wheel on the shaft is used for manual feeding of theform.

Reference to related patents Reference should be had to the followingpatents: William E. Sievers Patent N. 2,860,575, dated Nov. 18, 1958,entitled Tag and Ticket Printing Machine; Kenneth L. Bick Patent No.3,029,015, dated Apr. 10, 1962, entitled Adding and Label PrintingMachine; and Ralph L. Schultz Patent No. 3,075,626, dated Jan. 29, 1963,entitled Record Tape Feed Mechanism for Business Machines.

Background of the invention As shown by the above mentioned patents toWilliam E. Sievers, Patent No. 2,860,575, and Kenneth L. Bick, PatentNo. 3,029,015, machines for printing prices and codes on a continuousform of tags, tickets, or labels, are shown and have been in commercialuse. The machines of these patents use the conventional feed platenwhere a spring pressed roller holds the form strip against the platenand the frictional contact between the platen surface and the formprovides the feed as the platen is rotated.

The forms which are used are usually of heavier and stiffer stock thanconventional adding machine paper tape. Frequently, they have gummedbacks which are protected by a thin removable sheet which has a slightlywaxy surface. It has been found that the conventional feed arrangementsof the above patents are unsatisfactory in that the frictional contactis not completely effective, and there is some slippage. This destroysthe registry and the information printed on the individual tags,tickets, or labels in the form is higher or lower than desired and mayeven be so out of registry as to be printed on the perforationsseparating the individual tags, tickets, or labels.

Another factor which causes misalignment of the continuous form with theprint wheels is creep. Unless the platen is held to an extremely closetolerance, less than .001 in diameter, the form will be fed at a rateslightly greater or less than that desired for printing the data on theprecise desired position on all of the individual tags,

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tickets, or labels comprising the continuous form. Even if the registryis proper when the platen is new, extensive and continued use of theplaten will compact it sufficiently to cause the undesired creep in formfeed.

Consequently, when these machines are used constant attention must begiven to the problem of registry with manual adjustments to maintain it.

It has been suggested that this registry problem could be overcome by apin drive. This has the disadvantage of requiring the form to beperforated with holes which may interfere with the printed indicia.

The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art, andit provides a machine having a positive form feeding device.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved form feeding device for a printer having a positive drivebetween the form and the platen about which it is guided.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding device fora printer wherein the feed of the form is independent of the frictionbetween the platen and the form and of variations in platen size ordiameter.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding devicewhere the lateral edges of the form are engaged by end plates of theplaten to effect the positive drive.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding devicewherein equally spaced notches in the lateral edges of the form areengaged by inwardly projecting offsets in the end plates of the platento effect the positive drive.

Another object is to provide a new and improved platen for a formfeeding device having a rubber or rubberlike material tube int-o whichmetal cores are pressed, a pair of end plates secured to the platenshaft, equally spaced inwardly projecting offsets on each end plate, andnotches in the ends of the tube to receive the offsets and effect apositive drive from the platen shaft.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding devicehaving the platen of the preceding paragraph and where the offsetsengage notches in the lateral edges of the form to effect positive anduniform form feed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Brief description of figures FIG. 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal crosssectional view of a form printing device showing the feeding means ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan View of the feeding means;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the feeding means showing thedetent, taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction ofthe arrows;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the feeding means showing theadvancing pawl, taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2, looking in thedirection of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the feeding means of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 6, is an elevational view of a fragment of a form to be used withthe feeding means of the present invention;

Specific description Referring to FIG. 1, it will be observed that theform printing device 10 of this invention is incorporated in a fullkeyboard type machine such as that shown in the above mentioned WilliamE. Sievers patent No. 2,860,575, although it could also be used in a tenkey machine of the type shown in Kenneth L. Bick Patent No. 3,029,015.The machine includes a keyboard having amount and symbol entering keys12 which have stems 14 to stop the rearward movement of actuators 16which are connected to slide bars 18 biased rearwardly by springs 20.The slide bars incorporate racks 22 which engage the gear segments 24 ofprinting wheels 26 rotatably mounted on shaft 28. The print wheelscontain appropriate type 30 which in accordance with the setting of thekeys 12 and the operation of actuators 16 and slid-e bars 18 will printthe amount and any code on form 31.

The form 31 as illustrated in FIG. 6 comprises a strip of tags, tickets,or labels 32 which are separated by perforations 34. Along its marginaledges 36 the form is regularly formed with V-shaped notches 38 which, asshown, coincide with the perforation lines 34. The tags, tickets, orlabels as illustrated in FIG. 6 are for pricing merchandise and theindicia 40 printed on the face in the center of each contains a dollaramount and a code. The particular form shown is gummed on its rear face,which is protected by a sheet of paper having a slightly waxy surface.The form is relatively stiff and appreciably thicker than conventionaladding machine tape, being about .008 thick. Conventional adding machinepaper tape is pliable and about .003" thick.

The form 31 is supplied in a roll which is mounted on a shaft 42 at therear of the machine and is delivered to be trained about a platen 44(described in detail hereinafter) having a surface which is firm toprovide appropriate supoprt during printing.

The platen 44 is mounted on a platen shaft 46 which is provotallycarried in a frame 48 which in turn is rockably mounted at 50 in themachine frame (not shown). The platen frame 48 comprises a pair of sideplates 52 and 54 which are interconnected at their rear edges by acurved form guide 56 which is staked to the side plates and by a rod 58at the upper right rear of the frame (FIG. 1). The side plates 52, 54also support a tear-off bar 60 at the front of the frame against whichthe form may be torn when a sufiicient number of tickets, tags, orlabels 32 have been appropriately printed.

A shield 62 extends around the platen 44, guides the form 31 against theplaten, and protects it in the printing area. The shield 62 hasdepending ears 64 by means of which it is mounted on studs 66 projectinginwardly from the side plates 52 and 54. The shield 62 is slotted at 68to accommodate the type 30 on the print wheels 26 so that the properamounts and code marking be printed on the form 31. The central forwardportion of the guide 56 lies inside the rear portion of the shield 62 sothat this is no obstruction to the free movement of the form.

The platen is made of a tube 70 of rubber or similar material into whichis pressed a pair of aluminum extrusion core members 72. The coremembers 72 are pivotally moutned on the platen shaft 46. The platen 44is secured to the shaft by a pair of circular end plates 74 of slightlylarger diameter than the tube 70 having hubs 76 which are secured by setscrews 78 to the shaft 46 for rotation therewith. As is seen mostclearly in FIGS. 2 and 5, the end plates 74 are provided with inwardlyprojecting V-shaped offsets 80 at the plate peripheries which engage inV-shaped notches 82 in the platen tube 70. The V-shaped offsets 80engaged in the notches 82 provide the drive between the end plates 74and the platen tube 70 and core 72.

The olfsets 80 on the two end plates are aligned as clearly seen fromFIGS. 2 and 5. The distance between the adjacent offsets 80 on each endplate 74 is equal to the spacing between the V-shaped notches 38 in theform 31, and when the form is trained about the platen 44 and guided bythe guide 56 and shield 62, the offsets 80 engage in the notches 38 andprovide a positive drive between the form 31 and the platen 44 and shaft46 so that the form is properly and uniformly advanced at each operationof the machine, eliminating the previously mentioned slippage and creep.With the machine properly adjusted the indicia will be printed in thesame position on each individual tag, ticket, or label 32 throughout thelength of the form 31.

The indexing mechanism is best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and is more fullydescribed in the aforementioned patents to Kenneth L. Bick No. 3,029,015and Ralph L. Schultz No. 3,075,626, except that there is noincorporation in this unit of the back spacing portion of the indexingmechanism which is described in these patents.

As seen in FIG. 2, the shaft 46 extends rightwardly of the platen frameand carries a ratchet wheel 84. The ratchet wheel 84 is nonrotatablysecured to the shaft 46 and has five teeth thereon engageable by anadvancing pawl 86, the number of pawl teeth corresponding to the numberof end plate offsets 80. When the pawl 86 moves rearwardly it rotatesthe ratchet wheel 84 and the shaft 46 in the clockwise direction adistance equal to the spacing between adjacent teeth and theindentations and the notches 38 in the ticket strip.

The advancing pawl 86 is pivotally mounted on a stud 88 carried in abell crank 90 pivotally mounted on the pivot 50. The pawl 86 has a .tail92 which is engageable by a lug 94 carried on the bell crank 90. Thelower end of the bell crank 90 is slotted at 96 to receive a drivingroller 98 carried on an oscillating drive bar 100. The drive bar is oneof a pair, and the one in FIG. 4 is shown as connected to the side plate54 by a stud 102 and slot 104 in the drive bar. The stud 102 has aneccentric so that the force with which the platen is struck against thetype 30 on the print wheels 26 may be adjusted. The drive bar isoperated by a crank mechanism (not shown) driven from an oscillatablemain shaft 106 in a manner more fully disclosed in the above mentionedKenneth L. Bick Patent No. 3,029,015 and Ralph L. Schultz Patent No.3,075,626.

The main shaft 106 rotates approximately in the counterclockwisedirection and then 100 in the clockwise direction on every cycling ofthe machine and on every printing operation. When it moves in thecounterclockwise direction the drive bar 100 is iIl'lOV6d rearwardly.This does not immediately rock the platen frame 48, but through theroller connection 98 it rocks the bell crank 90 in the counterclockwisedirection, thus permitting the pawl 86 to follow forwardly under theinfluence of spring 108 which is secured at one end to the pawl and atthe other end to a stud 110 carried on the frame plate 54. The pawl istherefore brought into engagement with the ratchet wheel 84 at thistime, but it does not move the ratchet wheel in the counterclockwisedirection inasmuch as the teeth are slanted in the wrong direction. Thecontinued movement of the drive bar 100 rearwardly engages the forwardend of the slot 104 with the stud 102 and rocks the platen frame 48toward the type wheels 26. The type wheels then print the amount andcode on the form 31 through the slots 68 in the shield 62 by means of aninked ribbon (not shown) in the conventional manner. Upon the returnstroke of the drive bar 100 the lug 94 picks up the tail 92 of the pawl86 and the latter rotates the ratchet wheel 84 and the platen shaft 46an arcuate distance equal to the spacing between the notches 38 in theform to bring the next ticket, tag, or label into printing position,e.g., centering it.

The platen 44 is held in any adjusted position by means of a star wheel111, having lobes equal in number to the ratchet wheel teeth and plateoffsets 80, which is mounted on the platen shaft 46 immediately inwardlyof the left platen frame member 52. The wheel 111 has a hub 112 which issecured by set screws 114 to the shaft to be movable therewith. A detentroller 116 carried on the end of arm 118 pivoted at 120 to the sideframe member 52 rides on the star wheel 111 and when engaged in any ofthe depressions in the periphery thereof holds the star wheel againstany but deliberate movement by positive operation of the shaft 46. Thearm 118 is connected yoke fashion to a second arm 122 which is connectedto a spring 124 having its opposite end fastened to an ear or lug 126struck outwardly from the side frame plate 52, thereby to bias theroller 116 against the star wheel 111.

At its outer right end the platen shaft 46 is fitted with a thumb wheel128 for the manual adjustment of the platen 44 and the manual feed ofthe form 31 into and through the machine.

As will be apparent from the drawings the form is fed from the spindleor shaft 42 over the guide 56 and into the throat between the shield 62and the platten 44, past the cutoff or tear bar 60, and out of themachine in a generally vertical direction. The ribbon (not shown) liesoutwardly of the shield 62 and between the platen 44 and the type 30 onthe print wheel 26. The form 31 is so fed to the platen 44 that thenotches 38 in the side edges 36 thereof are engaged by the offsets 80 ofthe platen side plate 74 thereby to provide a firm and positive feed ofequal increments on each machine cycle. With this mechanism the guide 56and shield 62 will insure that the form 31 is held against the platensurface and that the offsets 80 will engage in the form notches 38 toeifect the proper feed.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that theobjectives which were claimed for this invention at the outset of thespecification are fully obtained [by the apparatus disclosed.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by United StatesLetters Patent is:

1. In a device for printing symbols on a continuous form strip composedof tags, tickets, labels, or the like, wherein the strip haslongitudinally equidistanly spaced notches in its lateral edges,including settable pr-int wheels, a platen about which the strip istrained, a platen shaft supporting the platen, a mechanism for rotatingthe platen shaft in strip advancing direction a distance equal to thespacing between adjacent strip notches, and means for holding the stripagainst the platen, the improvements comprising, the platen including atube made of a rubber or rubberlike material, a pair of end platesarranged at the opposite ends of said tube and secured to the platenshaft, said end plates having inwardly directed equidistantly spacedmeans at intervals equal to the spacing between the strip notches, andmeans in the ends of said platen tube to receive said plate means tolock said tube to said plates so that when said platen shaft is rotatedsaid plates rotate said tube, said plate means being engageable in thestrip notches positively to advance the strip.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate means engageablein said tube ends and in the strip notches comprises inwardly directedV-shaped offsets.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means in said tubeends in which said plate offsets engage comprises V-shaped notches.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the diameter of said endplates is slightly larger than the diameter of said platen tube, and thespacing between said end plates is only slightly greater than the widthof the form strip.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said end plates have hubs,and means are provided to lock said hubs to the platen shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,973,589 9/1934 Watson 197-138 X2,247,765 7/1941 Antrim 197-133 X 2,247,912 7/1941 Johnson 197-133 X2,309,656 2/19 43 Metzner 197-133 XR 2,311,227 2/1943 Handley et a1.197-114 2,311,702 2/1943 Sherman 197-133 2,683,519 7/1954 Davidson197-133 2,782,894 2/1957 Metzner 197-133 ROBERT E. PULFREY, PrimaryExaminer.

ERNEST T. WRIGHT, Assistant Examiner,

